Leaving Town
by Austyn
Summary: Haley left town the night of Graduation. The year just didn't work for them. Ch17 3.28
1. The First Box Is The Hardest

Leaving Town

The First Box is the Hardest

The year was up. Somehow, they hadn't done it. Maybe she didn't try hard enough, maybe she tried too hard, who knew. Well, at least it was better to find out now than later on in life. The box sat on her bed. The first one. She wrote on it with a permanent marker, NATHAN, and underlined it twice. She started tossing things in it, things that were his. Things he had given her. She folded his jersey and put it in the bottom, and next to it she folded and placed his letterman's jacket. Then the nightgown her got her on their first "date". On top of them she placed CDs he had burned for her, just random things. Next to them were NBA stat books, his attempt to help her understand basketball, no help really. Then, albums and albums of pictures. Pictures of them together, happy. Pictures of him. Pictures he had taken of her. Their wedding pictures. By now the box was almost full, just a couple more things to add. She added the bracelet from the box of Cracker Jacks. In the middle of the bracelet she placed her wedding ring. At the very top was a letter addressed to Nathan.

Nathan,

This is everything you ever gave me, or anything that reminded me of you. I thought you'd like it back. Keep it, throw it out, burn it, I don't really care. I'll be gone by the time you get this, so don't try to find me to give it back. Things just didn't work out, I understand that. I just wished and hoped for a happier ending.

Don't try to find me, it'd be to hard on the both of us. We tried it, and we failed, we just weren't meant to be. If I see you, I see you, if I don't, I don't. I just want you to know, I love you, and I always will love you, but sometimes, love isn't enough. I've already changed my name. I'm no longer Haley James-Scott, just Haley James.

If you should ever find me again, it wouldn't mean anything, nothing like a Serendipity moment. Chick flick, you probably wouldn't get the reference. Guess that would be something for you to do. I can't live the rest of my life waiting for you. I won't. I'm sorry.

Well, I guess this is goodbye, for good. I'd tell you all of this in person, but I fear you'd try and stop me. I don't need that. I need to get out of here. I won't be able to get over you if I see you everyday, not that you'll miss me anyway. I'd give you contact information, but I fear you'd try to find me, and I just can't have that, not yet. I'm sorry.

I love you,

Haley James

P.S. I'm sorry, and I hope that someday you can learn to trust me again. If not, that's your loss. Well, I guess the next time I'd see you would be in five years for a high school reunion. Well, that's if we both show, and if they have one. So, goodbye, and I guess you're thinking good riddance.

She placed the lid on the box and taped it up. She picked it up and set it on the floor. One box down, more to go. The rest would be easier to go through, they were only her things to pack. She sighed and started to pack up the rest of her things. She hoped to be out of town by nightfall. Graduation was that morning and everyone else was still out celebrating, drinking, dancing, celebrating. She was home, packing to leave town. This was easier, nobody there to try to change her mind. She picked up the marker and wrote on the side of the box, CLOTHES, and started to fill the box. 


	2. The Last Box Is The Easiest

I love the support, you guys rock, so here's Chapter 2... ENJOY Austyn

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Leaving Town

The Last Box Is The Easiest

She picked up the last box and placed it on her bare bed. The marker was right next to it, she picked it up and labeled the box, MISC. She finished packing a few leftover items, things that didn't fit into other boxes, things she would need right sooner. Like her toothbrush, and her hairbrush, and all that good stuff. The boxes were packed and stacked by the door, just waiting for her to pick up and carry down to her car.

She looked at her watch, just past eleven, surely she had another hour, to an hour and a half before Brooke would arrive back.

Arrive back to see a half empty closet, a bare mattress on a bed frame. Empty drawers that once held Haley's things. A bare dresser top that was once littered with Haley's things. The shoe rack missing a couple pairs of shoes. The bathroom empty of any sign of Haley. Basically, nothing remained that belonged to Haley, it was like she was never there. The only thing that remained was a letter to Brooke, and inside her half of this month's rent, and her key to the apartment.

_Brooke, _

I appreciate you letting me stay here for the year. Letting me join your squad, cheerleading. It was fun. You helped me make me senior year what it should be, senior year, so thank you.

I have enclosed my half of this month's rent. I know I didn't really stay this month, but I didn't give you a two weeks notice either, to find a new roommate or anything. If I did, you would have tried to talk me into staying in town. I need to leave.

I need to leave, and I need to not have any connections with anyone here, at least not for now. I need to separate myself, take some me time, and grow into who I am destined to be. I wish I could stay, but it is really not in my cards to, my journey is finished here. I need to move on.

Yes, part of this has to deal with Nathan. I just need to distance myself from him right now, and any connection with you, or Peyton or Lucas or anyone would be a connection with him, and I just can't have that. I need to move on, I can't be dependent on him any longer. He gave us a year, and it just wasn't meant to be.

I made sure not to leave anything behind, because, well, there would be no way of returning it to me. Not that I really had much to leave behind. If you should find anything, keep it, I obviously won't be needing it, as I probably won't return anytime in the near future.

Sincerely,

Haley James

P.S. If you're planning a reunion, I will attend, and use your gut instinct to find me, you probably will. Something will clue you in on where to look. I'll miss you, shocking as that would have sounded a year ago, but not as much now. So, I guess, goodbye.

She placed the letter on the kitchen counter, by the time Brooke found it, Haley would be long gone. She sighed and started moving the boxes to her car, careful as to the order in which she put them. The Things that were heavier and she wouldn't need as quickly on the bottom, and items that she would need sooner and were lighter on top, not to squish anything. Once she was finished, she locked the apartment door, and left.

She stopped at Nathan's house, placed his box on the front step, right in front of the door, so no matter how drunk he was, he wouldn't miss it, because he's trip over it and fall flat on his face, she laughed at that thought, just a little snicker to herself, and got back into her car and drove away, passing the "You Are Now Leaving Tree Hill" sign, and the "You Are Now Leaving North Carolina" sign, and kept going.


	3. Coming Home

Leaving Town

Coming Home

Nathan felt bad. He had said some things to Haley he didn't mean, and was trying to talk to her to fix them, but he couldn't find her anywhere at the party. He figured he had missed her and thought he could talk to her the next morning, work things out.

He walked up to his door, ran into the box, then looked down at it. It had his name on it, so he assumed it was for him. He sat down next to it and ripped the tape away and looked inside. The first thing he saw inside was the note on top. He tossed it aside, he wasn't much of a reader.

All the stuff in the box looked familiar. He started digging his hand through the box, messing up Haley's order, obviously looking to see if something was there. He felt a raindrop and decided it would be best to take everything inside.

He put the lid back on the box, picked up the note he had disregarded earlier and walked inside and up to his room. He put it down on the floor and crawled into his bed, since he was there, the box could wait.

Yeah, it could wait, it waited for months, mostly because he forgot it sat there, behind his door, getting squished every time the door was slammed open, out of sight, out of mind. He was mad, he walked around thinking Haley had skipped town, not even bothering with a good bye to him, well, more hurt than mad, he couldn't believe it.

Peyton slammed open the door to his room carrying a big brown cardboard box, "I swear, you must be a pile of worthless crap, since you can't manage to pack anything of your own, except that box there," she said referring to the box Haley left. She dropped the box she had and picked up that one, and opened it, "And you didn't even do that right, its jumbled random things, way to go Nathan, are you listening, could you put down the controller for two seconds, NBA live can wait."

He looked at her, "I didn't do that, somebody left it on my step months ago, I just kept forgetting to go through it, and no, I can't put down the controller, what part of NBA LIVE do you not get?"

She shook her head and sighed, "The part where I'm about it rip it out of the socket, now get your lazy ass up and out of the bed before I leave you here and not take you and all your crap to THCC." She started pulling things out of the box, "Was it packed like this?" she said, pulling out a ball of stuff.

He looked at it, "No, I don't think so, I went through it, sort of, but it started to rain, and I was tired, so I left it." He kept playing his game. He didn't really feel like leaving his bed, let alone his room, or his house, to go off to college, he wasn't one for learning.

She started pulling things apart, sorting them into different piles among his other things, then picked up the envelope, which was a little crumpled now, "Nathan, you want this?" she said, showing him the letter, practically waving it in his face.

He looked at it, not really paying attention, "Yeah, just put it with the rest of my mail, I'll read it later." He eyes stayed fixated on the screen, his fingers moving around the controller without having to look what he was doing, he had everything memorized.

Peyton looked around the room, "What other mail?" she said, looking for the place to stick the letter, also noticing the disgusting state of his room. It was really bad, and she had just now noticed the odor coming from the room, "And do you have any air freshener? This room is making me nauseas. It reeks, have you heard of cleaning?"

He continued with the game, "Under the door, they find it funny to slip it under there, so all over the floor under the door," he chucked to himself and smiled, shaking his head at his parent's attempts to make him do something.

Peyton now noticed the pile of mail on the floor, "You know what, I'm going to need more than boxes, I need air freshener, garbage bags, and when I come back, I need your lazy ass up, or I'm ripping out the Play Station, got it?"

By the time Peyton got back, nothing had changed in the room ,except now Nathan had a beer and a sandwich, which meant sometime he had gotten up, or Peyton hoped. She didn't exactly want to ask. She dropped the things she had on the floor and ripped the power strip from the wall, and practically everything in the room went out, the TV, the Play Station, the lamp, the CD player, "Now that I have your attention," she said, and took the controller from his hand, "You are on garbage duty, get a garbage bag and put all trash in it, this includes food, drinks, anything with mold, almost all of the crap under your bed, then, get a laundry basket, or in your case, two or three, and make all the dirty clothes burying this room go in them," she started spraying the room with some air freshener, it smelled like flowers and a summer day, then opened the window and pulled back the curtain, "You will not get the Play Station back until you have done what you are told."

He looked at her, "Now you're my mother? Or my prison warden, jeez, and now you make my room smell girly, thanks Peyt, really, thanks."

She handed him the garbage bag, "You are supposed to report to your dorm in four hours, and if you'd like to go there with nothing but the clothes and filth on your back, be my guest, but I guarantee nobody's going to want to hang around with you."

He grumbled, but got up to help anyways, "You are like a slave driver my friend," he picked up a plate of something off the floor, "Mmm, smells good, want a bite," and he held it to her face.

"Nathan, put it in the bag, and move on, please, besides, the fate of your Play Station depends on it," she smiled.

He actually completed his task, and they had him packed by the time it was time for them to leave. They were both attending PGCC this year, with Brooke and Lucas. Lucas was going there because of the money situation, and couldn't afford a better college, and Nathan and Brooke because of grades. Peyton went along because she didn't want to go to some other city without anyone she knew, plus, they all needed to look out for Nathan right now, he wasn't really doing the best, and needed them to help him get back on his feet.


	4. Swings

Okay, I know you wanted Nathan to read the letter, trust me, he will, give him time, and lots of it. I kinda liked this chapter, it was sweet and direct and got in what I needed. FYI its a couple years in the future (try like five, I think I said that somewhere though). ENJOY! It's my birthday present to myself (updated ficcys, lol, my BDays tomorrow, sweet 17)

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Leaving Town

Swings

Her cell phone vibrated, she could hear it moving on the kitchen counter. She closed the fridge door with her foot, holding the orange juice in one hand and picked up her phone and opened it, "Hello?" she opened the orange juice with her free hand and poured it into a glass.

A voice on the other end shockingly answered her hello, "Haley James?" The voice on the under end sounded really shocked, almost disbelief.

Haley was almost afraid to answer, fear of it being some weird stalker person, she set the glass of juice in front of the little girl sitting on a stool at the counter, "Don't spill it Meredith, I don't feel like cleaning up another mess," Haley said, holding the phone away from her mouth, but the person on the other side heard, "Yes, I'm Haley James, what can I do for you?" she closed the orange juice and sat on the counter next to it.

The person on the other end sounded really excited, "Haley, its me, Brooke, we're planning a little get together, and Lucas already owes me fifty bucks cause I'm talking to you-"

"You made bets if I would answer the phone?" Haley sounded really mad.

"Haley, its not like that, you're the one who left with barely a good-bye, and it was just to me," Brooke said, loosing her cheeriness and taking on a defensive tone.

"Not true, I wrote Nathan a letter, and put it in the box with all his stuff he ever gave me, or left at the apartment, and left it for him, please tell me he did not miss a big box blocking up his doorway," Haley said, and looked at Meredith, "Meredith, take small sips, I'm going to have to give you a cup with a lid," Haley sighed, and Brooke heard her say that too.

"Haley, who's Meredith? Don't tell me, that's so cliché, Haley!"

"She's my niece, my brother's daughter, he's off fighting the war, making her mine for the time being."

"Wow, sorry, I guess I jumped to conclusions, okay, so, I'm calling not because I wanted to catch up, well I do, but this isn't the real reason for calling. I, well, we want you to come back for Whitey's funeral. He passed away yesterday. He wanted you to sing at his funeral. Haley if you don't want to, or not doing that thing anymore, it's cool, we can just work around it."

Haley looked at her watch, "When is it?" she hopped off the counter to look at the calendar on the wall, it had writing all over it of things she had planned. "Oh, what about Meredith?" Haley smiled looking at her little niece.

"Well, we'd like for you to be here tomorrow. Meredith can come, no problem with that."

"No, I mean, if I'm going to sing, who's going to watch Meredith? I already planned to bring her if I came," Haley looked at her calendar, what was written for tomorrow, then looked at Meredith.

"Well, I could, or Peyton, or Karen, I'm sure Karen would love to do it."

Haley sighed, she knew it was for a good cause, "I'll think about it, Brooke, I have to go," Haley hung up the phone. "Meredith, do you want to go to Tree Hill, where me and your daddy and your aunts and uncles grew up?"

Meredith looked at her, "Okay, if there's a swing there."

Haley smiled, "Yes, there's swings there." Now it was up to her if they were going or not.


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry about the shortness of this chapter, it's sort of one of those filler chapters, a little background info, just some needed things. Next chapter will be better, I swear.

Leaving Town

Coming Home

Brooke closed her cell phone and looked at the group huddled around her, "She said maybe."

"Tell me, why didn't we try that sooner?" Lucas smiled, looking around, "Who's Meredith?"

"She said that Meredith is her niece. I'm not sure if I believe that, though, something seemed wrong with her."

Peyton spoke up, "Maybe cause out of the blue her past just decided to call her up and ask her to return."

Suddenly, everyone looked at Nathan. What would he do if Haley showed back up in Tree Hill? He was kind of hurt when she left, would her coming back open old wounds?

Brooke broke the silence, "Well, we still have things to do, Peyt, you can be in charge of hotel reservations for people coming in from out of town. Luke, you can make sure the flowers are right at the florist, Nathan, you can be in charge of making sure everything goes right with coach. I will be in charge of directing people, taking care of the reception, and all that good stuff. Remember, we have less than twenty-four hours until we take this show to the road, and less than an hour before people start showing up, so, let's get going," Brooke said, getting up with her notebook she had been using to keep track of everything.

-----------------------------

Haley couldn't believe what she was doing. She had her bag slung over one shoulder, her guitar over the other, in one hand Meredith's bag, and holding Meredith's hand with her other hand.

"Look Meredith, look at the trains, aren't they big?" Haley said, directing Meredith's attention to the trains in the station.

"Very big, are we going to ride one?" Meredith asked, happily, looking at them in amazement.

"Yes, Meredith, we are, come on," Haley said, and they started walking to get on the train. Surprisingly, Meredith wasn't one bit afraid of the big engine, she was excited to go on a train.

They got on and took their seats. Meredith's excitement quickly wore off when it grew dark outside and she fell asleep. Haley took out her guitar and started strumming chords. Not so much later has she started than the door to their compartment opened and a man walked in, she smiled, "Oh, hey, I thought you said you were catching the morning train," she watched him put his things down then took a seat next to her.

"Well, I wanted a traveling buddy over the age of seven, she can be so hard to travel with. I'm glad you called though."

"Yeah… me too, except my travel buddy is three." They shared a laugh.


	6. Night Lights Of A Small Town

Okay, go me, I love this, it sort of adds a bit of reassurance to the whole thing, if you know what I mean.

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Leaving Town

Night Lights of a Small Town

Haley looked around, the bus stop was the same as it was years ago, dark and depressing, discouraging people to come or go. They had taken a bus from the train station to Tree Hill.

Meredith was now wide awake, taking in her new surroundings. Haley looked at her traveling 'buddy', "So, do you think Karen's changed her hours, and is open at two in the morning," Haley asked looking at her watch.

"Maybe, I could go for a late night snack. Some welcome wagon, though, I must admit, usually there's always someone here doing something they're not supposed to that we can watch, one question, are you here to say good-bye to Coach, or to look on moving back?"

"I don't really know, honestly, I came back for coach's funeral, but now that I'm here, maybe it's the small town air, maybe it's the familiar places I was running from, I don't know, but what I was running from seems to be pulling me back," she looked at her watch, "Tay should be here any-" Taylor started running over to them.

"Hey, Hay! Meredith, baby doll, what're you doing here," Taylor dropped her stuff by Haley and scooped up Meredith, "Haley, can you grab that for me, I have to catch up with my beautiful little niece here."

Haley picked up Taylor's small amount of stuff, "We were just about to go to Karen's, see if we could get something to eat, you in?" Haley looked at Taylor.

"Um… yeah, sure, that's cool, come on Meredith," they all started walking.

They reached Karen's and the light was on, it wasn't very packed, but Haley could make out some familiar faces, Luke, and Brooke, Peyton, with coffee, and Nathan, practically asleep in a booth. They all walked up to the place, and Taylor, the genius she is, tried the door, and obviously it was locked.

"Did you try knocking?" he asked, standing behind her, with his daughter, who was looking kind of sleepy, but before they had a chance, Peyton was up on the door unlocking it, and swinging the door open, ushering them inside.

Brooke looked up at the commotion, nothing got Peyton that excited, especially in the middle of the night on welcome duty. Then she saw him. Jake. She didn't remember calling Jake, or Taylor for that matter, then she saw Haley in the back, short Haley, and put two and two together, Haley called them.

Lucas got up, "Well, I believe that I'm the next up to escort you to your hotel."

"You mean, I travel thousands of miles here, so after two seconds I get escorted to some hotel without even getting to say hello, real nice Luke, real nice, now you can escort my lovely sister to her hotel room, but I think I want to stay here a while, catch up, unless anyone has any objections."

"Haley," Taylor whined, "It's to early to go to bed, besides, look at Meredith, she definitely isn't tired," Taylor said, tickling the little girl. Haley put her stuff down in a booth, the one furthest away from Nathan's and went and took Meredith.

"Great, she can stay here with me, now move it Tay, that's the only reason I let you come, you listen to me, or I will put you on the next bus out of here sending you to who knows where with only the clothes on your back."

"Fine, I'm going, I'm going," she picked up her stuff, "Will I have to carry my stuff, or will my escort, such a fine young man you are."

"Taylor, it's me, Lucas, seriously, you carry your own crap," he smiled and shook his head. Haley walked over to the booth where she had put all her stuff and sat down with Meredith on her lap. Jake had taken the middle booth to lay Jenny down in, with all his stuff, and was catching up with Peyton.

Brooke decided it would be best to make small talk, "So, Haley, care to enlighten us on the past five years?"

"Tomorrow was going to be my one year wedding anniversary-"

"You got married! Haley, this is big, you didn't bother to call us, we so would have come!" Brooke got excited. Nathan also looked up, somehow, those words got his attention and his mind couldn't comprehend. She couldn't have gotten married, he was the one she was supposed to be with. This couldn't be happening. "Do you have pictures," Brooke asked, zoning Nathan back in from his wandering thoughts.

"Um, one, of our wedding day," Haley opened her guitar case that was sitting on the table next to her and pulled out her guitar, and reached into the bottom of the case and pulled out a small, worn picture. They looked really happy. She passed it to Brooke.

"Cute, what's his name?" Brooke said, looking at the picture, then passed it to Peyton.

"Ross… Ross Micheals."

"So, you're Haley Micheals?"

"No, still Haley James, probably always will be." Peyton passed the picture onto Nathan, who said nothing about the guy, just took a quick glance and passed it back to Peyton.

"Okay, Meredith, is she seriously your brother's?" Brooke was giving her the twenty questions, and since Haley had nothing better to do, she answered them.

"Yes, Meredith is my niece. She's three. She's staying with me while my brother, her father, is at war. Her mother died when she was born, some complications, he didn't really go into the whole story, but apparently I'm the most responsible."

"Where have you been the past five years?"

"I can't tell you."

"Okay… Why aren't you spending your anniversary tomorrow with your husband?"

"Well…" Haley took a deep breath, as Brooke handed her the picture back.

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Okay, so I'm not really sure, but I don't think Haley will be staying much longer than the funeral. I didn't really want Whitey dead or anything, so don't think that of me, but if anything should come from his death, I think it should be the return of Haley, even if it is for a little while. I also fell in love with the idea of Meredith. I wanted her to have a kid, sort of a little loudmouth who will leak certain things in the future, and I thought it was to cliche to have her have Nathan's kid, or Chris' kid (who by the way seriously really isn't going to be in this story) mostly because that would make a quick drop in really messy. I added Taylor in mostly for the purpose of baby-sitter. Yeah, she was a cheerleader, and knew coach, so it makes it logical, but for the most part, I wanted her as a baby sitter. So I really hope you liked this, and will like upcoming chapters.

Austyn


	7. Twenty Questions

Okay, loving the reviews. Now this chapter is a bit long, sorry, but, um, I couldn't decide where to hack it in half, so I left it as one. It sort of goes into Haley's past of where she's been for the past five years.

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Leaving Town 

Twenty Questions

"Well…" Haley said, taking a deep breath, as she took the picture from Brooke, "We met in Starbucks, suprisingly enough. That was almost four years ago. I knew him two years before we weregot married. He was so funny, and yet serious. Though, we didn't really meet, we more of ran into each other, literally. We spent the day together.We exchanged numbers, and he called mebefore I arrived home to talk about anotherdate. Well, after wedated fora year, he proposed. Things got a bit hectic with planning the wedding when my brother handed over custody of Meredith to me, but he accepted her, andwe resumed wedding planning once she was settled. She was a newborn,three weeks old.My brothersaid he had to make something of himself if he was going to be good enough to be her daddy. The wedding kept getting pushed back, things kept coming up, but he was so easy going, and wasreally okay with I needed to be with my mom when she needed surgery or I needed to see Taylor because shecalledand said it was an emergency. We finally set a date,for a year ago. And, nothing happened, we made it to the church on time.We were supposed to ride off into the sunset on his motorcycle, well he decided he wanted to show me some tricks first, he was an amazing stunt man on a motorcycle, and loved that thing like it was his own child. I wasn't on it with him, it was two dangerous. So, he gets on it, in front of the church, in front of everyone, still in his tux and everything. He looked so stunning in black, I wished he wore it more often. It really complimented his dark hair. I told him that, he said white was better, but wore black that day for me. So, he got on his motorcycle, a Harley Davidson, not that I knew anything about motorcycles, he just told me that, and he revs it up, as loud as he could make it go, shaking furiously under him, he had just cleaned it, so it was really shiny, and the black of his suit, matched the black of the motorcycle, making them one, and started off, a few simple tricks, a jump or two, circling around, nothing really fancy, when he came back around, he reached the intersection, but didn't turn around, he was going to do a wheelie through the intersection. The light was red, he didn't realize it, and went speeding through, getting sideswiped by a big truck, with everyone watching, family, friends, watching him get run over by a truck. Everyone was whipping out cell phones to call an ambulance, but it was obvious it was too late. We didn't even have twenty-four hours together. I was a wife and a widow in the same day. One year ago tomorrow. And, as much as I'd love to spend the day with him, I'm sure he's understand where I'm coming from, being here, with my friends, well if you still are my friends, who are alive, instead of a vegetable in the ground. Ross valued life, so he'd want me to be here, rather than at his grave, or the intersection, with people who are alive." Haley looked at Brooke and Peyton's faces, Brooke was practically bawling like a little baby, and her story even touched Peyton, who usually didn't give a damn about anyone else loosing someone close. She didn't bother to look over at Nathan, who probably could care less, considering who was telling the story. She looked back to Brooke.

"So, why did you only write me a letter saying you were leaving?"

"I didn't."

"You did too write me a letter, everyone read it."

"No, I mean, I didn't write just you a letter."

"Well, who else did you write to?"

"Nathan, I put it on top, in that box of stuff that was his, that I gave back the night I left, surely he didn't miss it, it was right outside his door, he's have to trip over it to get inside unless he saw it and moved it."

"I remember that box, it was a jumbled mess, and I remember when I was packing for him, so we could all go to THCC together, it was in that box, it was a beat up box with his name on it, I asked him what to do with the letter, he said put it in the box with the rest of my mail, after that, I don't know what happened to it."

"So, Nathan, not what are you going to do, she so totally said goodbye, you just flat out ignored it. Gosh, that would so suck, Why did you leave?" Brooke asked, going back to Haley.

"We didn't work out, I couldn't be around here anymore, just picked up and left."

"Okay… how long are you staying?"

"Coach's funeral probably, then going back."

"Back where?"

"Can't tell you, Brooke."

"Darn, thought it would work," Brooke said, and Haley's cell started ringing.

Haley took it off her hip and looked at it, then opened it, "Hello… speaking…" Haley got up, "Hold On" Haley said into the phone, "Hey Brooke, could you hold Meredith, I need to take this."

"Yea, sure," Brooke took the sleeping girl. Haley walked into the back, talking on her phone.

Jake stood up, "Um, I'm going to call my mom, make sure it's okay for me and Jenny to stay there," Jake said, taking out his cell.

"You can stay with me, its really late, you don't want to wake your mom up. Both of you can stay with me, then you can see your mom tomorrow morning, or," she looked at her watch, "Later today."

"Okay, thanks Peyt."

Luke walked back in and sat down next to Brooke, and looked at her, "And what did you do to get to hold Meredith?"

"Haley's phone was ringing, and I was talking to her, so she gave her to me."

"So, what did you get out of her?"

"She was married, but he died on their wedding day, I don't know where she was, and she did tell Nathan goodbye."

"Good job, now, I think that's enough for one day, let her talk, you're not going to get it out of her."

"Okay, look at her though, isn't Meredith adorable?"

"Yeah, she is."

"Lucas! Have some more enthusiasm, jeez," Brooke said, but then Haley walked back out, holding her closed phone at her chest, walked behind the counter and poured herself a cup of coffee, put the lid on it, and drank it, black, trying to collect her thoughts on the past phone call.

Haley had her back turned towards them so they couldn't see her face, that she'd been and still is a little, crying, she silently sipped her coffee, "Hey, I think I'm gonna go," she said, trying to hide her emotion. She walked over to the booth that she had put her stuff in and picked up her stuff, took Meredith from Brooke, "Night everyone, I guess I'll see you later, eleven right?" she was hurrying to get out the door.

Brooke shot Nathan a death glare, and he brushed it off, "Haley, it's dark out, you should let someone walk you to your hotel room, wouldn't want anything to happen to you," Brooke said, staring at Nathan.

"Brooke, thanks for the offer, but I'll be fine, it is Tree Hill after all," Haley said and walked out the door. Not to long after, Nathan was running to catch up with her. She stopped and looked at him.

"Brooke made me," he confessed, "Said she was worried about you, and Lucas had just gotten back."

"It's cool, but you don't have to, really, I know my way around Tree Hill, and it is Tree Hill, not like I'm going to get mugged or anything, seriously."

"Hales," he looked at her, that face looked so hurt, obviously that hit a sore spot.

"No one's called me that in years."

"Oh, sorry."

"No, it's not you."

"That phone call, Haley, who called you, and in the middle of the night?"

"My boyfriend," now it was Nathan's turn to look hurt, "He's in Europe right now, a photographer, he's done amazing work," her voice had a slight quiver in it, like he was hard to talk about.

"Hales, what did he say?"

"He met a model and he said we're just not going to work, he's not coming back, and I'm not willing to go there, and he's more interested in this model, so he said it'd be best to end it. Just last month, he was with me, then he got an opportunity to go to a photography school in Europe, we talked about it, argued some, then decided it would be best for him, and he left. Now he loves it there, he's been calling me for weeks how beautiful it is, and now it took him, that lifestyle," she was on the verge of tears.

"Hales, he's not worth it, he's an ass for not seeing how beautiful you are."

"No, he knew it, it was his pictures that he took of me that got him accepted to the stupid school," she opened her wallet and showed Nathan a picture of her that he took, she looked great, the lighting was right, the pose she was in made her look great, it was awesome his skills as a photographer, "He took pictures of Meredith, too, for fun, that day was so much fun, she was giggling about the feather boas and the puffy skirts, and her smile was contagious. Matt and I just watched her play, taking natural pictures, they were beautiful."

"His name was Matt?"

"Yeah, Matt Threthon. He was so sweet. I just can't believe how jerky photography school in Europe made him," she took a drink of her coffee.

"Black coffee?"

"Yeah, it's actually good, give you lots of energy, besides, not like I'll be able to drink any of it later."

"Why?"

"24-hours before my performance, only hot tea with honey and lemon, soothes the vocal cords."

"You really buy into that bullshit?"

"Yeah, it helps, and tea's good for you, anyways, I need to get going, I like to get up early to go for a run in the mornings, clear my head, stay in shape, a natural feel good pick-me-up."

He looked at her, like really looked at her for the first time that night, and saw her, very slim, still short, she looked fragile, like she was dropped so many times, and once more just might break her, and there was hurt in her once soft brown eyes, and her smile wasn't there. She just really wasn't the old Haley, "How about I join you tomorrow morning? A nice run on the beach, the salty air, the sand, the cool breeze from the ocean?"

"Sure, come get me at five."

"Five!"

"Too early?"

"Just a little, how about six… thirty," he added, looking at his watch.

"Fine, six-thirty, good-night," she said, and walked up the steps into her hotel room.


	8. Early Morning Something

Okay... I'd like to start off by saying... I'm sorry... but in my defense... I had to.

* * *

Leaving Town

Early Morning… Something

Haley was up early to get ready for her run with Nathan. She had showered, and ate, and was now picking out something to wear, with the advice of Taylor, and a three year old.

She decided on blue shorts, like short-shorts, a wife beater and a matching blue jacket, and some white sneakers with white socks.

"Hales, have fun, don't worry about Meredith, I'll take real good care of her. Besides, she loves me, more than you."

"She does not! And I swear, you will never see the dear child again if she has any more holes in her body than when I leave, anything a different color, that includes nails, hair, eyes, skin, everything, and her hair better be the same length, and no make-up, she's three. She better be exactly like this when I return, understand?"

"Yes, queen Haley, ruler of the known universe. I shall have no fun while baby-sitting, for free, my wonderful niece, thank you very much."

"Funny, I'm serious, or I will find someone else to watch her, it's really not that hard."

"Fine Haley, I'll do it. Go, have fun. While me and Meredith are bored out of our skulls," Taylor finished as there was a knock on the door.

-----------------------------------

"OMG Mrs. Jagielski, you so did it with Jake last night," Brooke squealed when Peyton walked into the café around eight.

"Brooke!"

"What, you so did. Give me details P. Sawyer, and don't leave anything out," Brooke said, trying to keep calm.

"B. Davis, nothing happened to give you details about."

"Liar. Don't make me go ask Jake, just blink once if it was good, twice if it was better."

Peyton blinked once, then again, then like a hundred more times.

"P. Sawyer!"

Peyton ignored her, and ordered her coffee, to go. Lucas walked in.

"Hey Broody, Peyton got laid last night, but she won't give any details," Brooke said, pretty loud so like the whole café could hear, but Brooke didn't care, she was Brooke after all.

"Really Cheery, that's interesting," Lucas said, almost uninterested.

"Broody, make her talk," Brooke whined.

"I don't think I can do that Cheery, I'm sorry."

Brooke hit him on his shoulder playfully, then pretended to pout.

-----------------------------------

Haley and Nathan ran for a couple miles, or, well, jogged, it took a couple hours, but Nathan was surprised that even if he ran as fast as he could, Haley could still keep up.

Now they had finished their run, and were laughing it up about how Nathan had tripped and fell, face first, into the sand on the beach.

He was still brushing sand off of him when he kissed her, and she immediately pushed him away, then ran off.

He felt really stupid, and mad it himself for ruining it. He had been getting along with her all morning. They were having fun. Then, in one stupid moment, he ruined everything. He cursed at himself for doing that. Now he wasn't sure what would happen. When he realized it, he got madder at himself for not running after her. Now he had no idea where she could have gone.

He left to get ready for coach's funeral after standing there cursing at himself for a good fifteen minutes. They were all supposed to meet there a half hour early. Make sure everything was right, and to pay their last respects in quiet.

-----------------------------------

They all arrived, just as the schedule Brooke prepared said they should be there.

"I think Haley's gonna leave again," Nathan said as they entered.

"What?" the girls asked, stopping.

"We went for a jog this morning, her idea, not mine, but I offered to go with her, then I couldn't help myself, I kissed her, and she ran off."

"Way to go dumbass," Brooke said, hitting him hard in the shoulder.

"Ow!"

"Well, you deserve it, we finally get her back here, and you start thinking with, well, not your head. I swear Nathan, control yourself. She's gonna come today, sing her song, then she's gonna leave. She's going to take her cute little niece and leave us again with no answers, probably go and get married again and forget about us," Brooke was breaking down, and Lucas put his arm around her, they weren't married yet, but engaged.

It was Peyton's turn to yell at Nathan, "Nate, I thought you were over her. You said you would be totally cool if she came, and last night you seemed uninterested in where she'd been or the fact she was married again, then all of a sudden you kiss her? We won't be able to find her again, you know that. I tried to get it out of Jake, but he honestly didn't know. He said she contacted him. Somehow she knew where to find him, but the point is, this time we were lucky in contacting her, she didn't change her number, but now, that will probably be the first thing she does. We've lost her, again Nate, both times are because of you."

Peyton pushed past him to stand next to Brooke. They had wanted Haley to stay. Luke wanted Haley to stay. They missed having their friend around, the problem solver, the smart one. It just seemed so weird without her.


	9. Time To Say Goodbye

Okay… So, I did read everyone's reviews… I promise you I did, I however, feel that I had to do this. So, I'm really sorry, but don't stop reading cause I love you guys, you all rock.

Leaving Town

Chapter 9- Time To Say Goodbye

The after party of Whitey's funeral was held on the beach, what he wanted. He didn't want everyone to spend their time wandering around, depressed over him. He was about life, and living, so it only made sense. They should celebrate his life, that he had a good, long one, not cry over the fact he was gone, because, even if they didn't know it, they would always carry around a piece of him, something he had taught them.

"Okay, I would like to welcome to the stage Haley James, a very talented singer, here to sing just for Coach Durham… and Whitey, I hope you can hear this up in heaven, because Haley has a voice of an angel, give it up for Haley James," Brooke said, into the microphone, announcing Haley to the stage they set up on the beach.

Haley sat on the stool with her guitar at her leg, and pulled the microphone closer to her, "Wow, thank you, and this is for you Coach Durham. And hopefully you can hear this," Haley said, and picked up her guitar. She started strumming it softly, then gradually growing louder as she began to sing. It was a sad, but uplifting song, and she did have the voice of an angel.

When she finished the whole crowd clapped, with tears in their eyes, and hope and joy in their hearts. For some, it was their first time hearing her, for others, it was there first time in over five years. Then for some, it was like the first time all over again. No matter what it was, everyone enjoyed it, and that's what mattered.

They went back to the DJ, playing songs of their high school days, the younger generation there for the party, booing, while the older, laughing at the stuff they listened too. They were all laughing it up, until Haley walked over to them.

"Nathan, can I talk to you for a minute," then looking at everyone else, "alone?"

Nathan looked at her, and saw some of the same pain in her eyes he as saw last night, "Yeah, sure," he said, looking around then following her to an empty spot away from the party.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"I want to talk, you listen."

"Okay…"

"Nathan, you kissed me. You know why we got divorced five years ago? You told me you no longer loved me. I moved on, I dealt with it, and then I moved on. I remarried, I loved him, not like I loved you, but I still loved him. After he was gone, I spent a time grieving him, and moved on, it's what you do. You morn your loss and move on, and I'm sorry Nathan, but Matt just broke up with me last night for crap's sake, and you kiss me this morning, not even waiting 24 hours. That hurts me. And I'm sorry if I hurt you in saying this, but I don't want you to be that guy. I don't want anyone to be that guy. Even though Matt was a jerk for the past couple of months, he was still my boyfriend. I need time, time to sort out my feelings, anger, hatred, sadness, happiness, relief, it's all swirling in my head. I just need time to sort it out. But you kissed me this morning, okay, do you seriously want to be that guy? The rebound guy. Shut-up, don't answer that. If you become the rebound guy, it'll always be a what if, what if I was just trying to fill the sudden hole in my heart, what if I wasn't thinking clearly, what if I made a mistake, okay, I don't want any what ifs. So, today, after coach's party, I'm going to go back to my hotel room, pack my things, and Meredith's and catch the next train home. But," she took a picture out of her back jeans pocket with a number on the back, it was one of the pictures Matt took of just her, and she looked amazing, "That's my new cell number on the back, call me in a couple of months, anything before, and I'll know your rushing me, and more than a year, and I'll know you've moved on, which I will me really happy for you. I'm not gonna wait forever, and you shouldn't have to wait for me, No! don't say anything, let me finish, if I am over Matt by the time you call, and I haven't met anyone else, I'll consider you, if you call too soon, I'll forget about you, and if you don't call, I will make a mental note you have moved on, as I probably have to. So, it's basically up to you to know when to call. I guess it's our test of fate. So, goodbye Nathan," Haley said and walked away, collecting Meredith from Taylor before she fully left, and Nathan stupidly watched her go, until she was out of sight.

Haley packed their things up and headed to the train station and got on the next train home. That was her plan on what to do, and she did it, she left… again.

Nathan stood on the beach until it was just him with Brooke, Peyton and Lucas staring at him from a distance, even Jake couldn't stand to look at Nathan's grief for that long. Nathan had lost her again, and he just let her slip through his fingers, just as the picture did as he kept turning it over and over in his hands, looking at her smiling face, then her phone number, and back to her face.


	10. A Score That Does Not Lie

I had to do it, and I just loved the reviews on how Nathan was a complete idiot. But, yeah, I had to do it, so that I can do this. Yeah, you have to read it to find out, cause I'm not going to say anything. I know, the suspense is killing ya'll cause you're reading this… well okay… I'm done.

Austyn

* * *

Leaving Town

Chapter 10- A Score That Does Not Lie

It was another night of Tree Hill High Basketball. Excitement in the air, people crowded the stands. It was amazing how one game could bring people out like this, even though their team, well, sucked. The Tree Hill Ravens hadn't been very good in years. The players were good, just not the plays, and they were started to blame the coach.

The coach, however, was Nathan Scott, and his ass was on the line here, the game hadn't started out well, with his best player on the bench with an injury. Then his team's cheerleaders were banned from the gym because the ref was tired of telling them to keep their poms off of the court, to stay behind the line, and they just wouldn't listen.

The newspapers were there, all ready to catch the story after Coach Nathan Scott lost his last game as Coach of Tree Hill High, taking pictures of the scoreboard, with dramatically low scores, or Nathan, or refs, or players, or the fans, they were just all around, waiting for Nathan to loose the game.

Nathan was ready to loose the game. It was only five minutes into the game and they were starting their deep hole to be buried in, and that was just discouraging, Every time the other team scored a basket, he got more and more discouraged and depressed, and it just kept getting worse.

Peyton and Brooke were sitting in the stands behind him, Brooke gabbing on about the cheerleaders, and how they were all sluts, and stupid , and was extremely outraged that they couldn't stay behind a line, were they really that fat, and Peyton was trying to calm her down about how good her squad was, and that they never did that, and that she should really be quiet, cause Nathan could hear her, and needed to concentrate.

--------------------------------------

From a side door, close to the back of the gym she walked in. Nobody really noticed her, she looked just like a student anyways. She always was short, and decked out in school colors, blue and white, of course she blended in.

She walked up to him, and grabbed him by the collar, dragging him to the back corner of the gym, so quickly, he didn't know what was going on, and before he could figure it out, she was kissing him, then whispered in his ear, "More later if you win." That's when he looked at her.

It was Haley, is Haley, the Haley he was so scared to call, that it would be the wrong time, that he let two years pass. She looked at him, almost impatiently, "Well, aren't you going back to your game, I hear your job depends on it, and you're pretty far into the hole, might want to go fix it," she smiled.

That shook him back into reality. He had a game to win. He had to win, if he didn't want to loose her again, or his job, the job he loved. Plus, he would love to see the shocked look on the reporters faces when he won, and the school board. Oh, to see their jaws drop. He walked back to the game, with Haley a little behind him, and she took a seat just behind the bench.

"Nathan, who's that?" Haley asked, pointing to the person on the far end of the bench.

"Katie, she's a freshman, awesome player."

"So, why isn't she in?"

"She's a girl."

"Nathan! I mean, you said yourself, she's an awesome player, and I see a guy out there who keeps traveling. I suggest you make a switch. Now!"

"But…"

"Nathan…"

"Fine," he looked down on the bench, "Carter, come here." The girl quickly got up and ran over to him.

"Yes coach?"

"Yeah, I need you to go in for Johnson, or Mr. I have superglue all over my fingers and can't seem to let go of a damn ball. You've got on hell of a jump shot, use it, because you're a girl, they'll be aftraid to block you, and the Gerther twins will back you up, tell them coach's orders, now go."

"You're seriously going to put me in?"

"Yes, now move, before I change my mind." She girl squealed with delight and ran in. What Nathan had as was true. Guys didn't want to cover a girl, either their egos wouldn't let them, or their girlfriends.

By halftime, they were tied. 60-60. With Haley there, something changed, he realized that he had been putting in some bad players, and that was going to change. His regular starting line was now his bench warmers, and most of his benchwarmers, were, well, out there playing, and doing a heck of a job.

When they came back out from halftime, the crowd was cheering for them, something that hadn't happened since, well, a longtime, and it felt good. It felt good to have the crowd on their side. It felt good to have everything.

--------------------------------------

They won, not by much, but they won nonetheless. Everyone was shocked, but at least his job was saved, for another day. This was going to make the front page of the newspapers, and headlines on the evening news.

He looked around for her. Haley. His Haley. She helped him win, but he couldn't see her in the crowds. He is face fell.

"Hey, what's wrong, you won, you should be happy."

He turned around and hew her, "Hey, I thought you left."

"Why, we made a deal. You win, you get more of this," she kissed him, "If you didn't, I would have left," Haley said, taking his hand, and kissing him again, this time flashes went off around them. The reporters were taking pictures of them.

"Come on," Nathan said, as they ran out of there, "Sorry about that, big day, the Tree Hill Ravens won, well, thanks to your help."

"Hey, it's nothing, besides, you had a girl play on your team, and she was good, did you see her face, you made her so happy."

"Yeah, I guess I did, hey… I just noticed something, where's Meredith?"

"She's at home with Taylor, kindergarten already. Five years old, I still can't believe it."

"You mean she's not with your brother, her dad."

"No, he, he, he died overseas, a couple months ago. He was scheduled to come home a week after he died. Hey, things just turn out that way. I'm actually in town to meet with a lawyer to sign full custody of her over to me, and I heard that there was a basketball game tonight, and well, I came, and I saw you, and well, the score didn't lie, you were single, and you didn't call me, so, I decided to work my magic again, for you," Haley said, and smiled.

"I'm sorry, about your brother, and thanks, that saved my job, they were all ready to fire me, and then, well, thanks."

"Hey, anytime. So, are you still on for that make-out session?"

"How about dinner first, you can join Peyton, Brooke, Luke, Jake and I for dinner at Karen's after every game."

"Um, okay, yeah, I guess."

"Good, cause we're probably going to be partying tonight."

He took her hand and they walked there, hand in hand, Nathan looking down at the beautiful woman at his side. They walked into the café, where the party was in full swing, but when they saw who was accompanying Nathan, they all froze.

"What happened, I thought we were having a party," Nathan said, looking at everyone.

Brooke bounced over, "Hales, you're, you're back!" she said, giving her a big hug.

"Brooke… I… can't… breathe…" Haley gasped out, trying to free herself from her friend's grip.

"Sorry," Brooke said, backing away.

"It's okay."

"Are… are you back for good?"

"I don't really know. Right now I'm meeting with my lawyers in this custody thing with Meredith, her dad, my brother, he died a couple months ago. Now I'm trying to make it really official that she's mine. I was supposed to meet with my lawyer tonight, actually, but last minute he cancelled it on account of a Tree Hill High basketball game, so I decided to come and watch a game, help Coach Scott win a game and keep his job."

"OMG! That was you! Peyton! You so owe me five bucks!"

"Wait… you two placed bets on my love life," Nathan interjected.

"It's only five dollars Nate… jeez."

"Like that makes me feel better."

"Well, the fifty dollar bet is if you get married before the new year, and it looks like Peyton's gonna win that, considering."

"Considering what?"

"Well, today is December 30th, tomorrow is the last day of the year, and on January first, I will owe Peyton fifty dollars, thanks Nate, really, I could have really used that money," Brooke pouted, and walked over to Lucas.

"Thanks Brooke, now he can choose who he likes better, me or you, to win the bet," Peyton pouted back, sitting on the counter next to Jake.

"What… it was your idea to bet on his love life."

"No it wasn't… it was so yours."

"Well… you went along with it."

"Real good comeback Brooke," Peyton said as they both started cracking up.

"Hey, ya'll still bet on my love life."

Brooke and Peyton looked at each other, "We're sorry, we won't do it again," Brooke said, holding back laughter.

"You better not."

"Nate, come on, let it go, they didn't mean any harm," Haley said, running her fingers up his arm to his shoulder, then placing a firm hand on it.

He looked at her, "I guess you're right."

She shook her head, "I know I'm right, and you do to, now come on, you won a game remember, so now we get to celebrate!"


	11. A Day With Meredith

Leaving Town

Chapter 11- A Day With Meredith

"Okay, so, you want to date me, you need to pass a little test," Haley said, as she got up from the counter in her hotel room.

"What kind of test?"

"Well… you should spend the whole day with Meredith to see if she likes you."

"You'll be there… right?"

"No, I've got a meeting with my lawyer today."

"Well… how will I know what to do with her?"

"I don't know, you'll figure it out. Taylor will be here in a half an hour to drop her off," Haley said, grabbing her coat.

"She's gonna spend the day with me?"

"No, she has to work this weekend, she's only dropping her off."

"So… I'll be completely alone with her?"

"Yes… is that a problem?"

"No… I'm just surprised you're so ready to trust me with her."

"She's a five-year-old with a cell phone that Aunty Taylor got her… and an attitude… added to a great set of lungs that could probably be heard up to a mile away. I don't think I have anything to worry about," Haley said laughing, "Now I need to get going," she said, and kissed his cheek and walked out.

------------------------------------------------

Within a half hour Taylor was there to drop of Meredith. She didn't care about leaving her with Nathan or anything… she needed to get back to go to work.

Nathan sat on the back of the couch, looking at the little girl, who stood in the doorway with her backpack on her back, and her bag of things next to her. She seemed so innocent, like a little angel.

"You want to read a story?" Nathan asked, looking at her.

"Not really… can't we go outside? Is there a park nearby? Aunty Haley promised swings if I came. I want swings," she said, stomping her foot.

"Yeah, there's a park just across the street with swings… you want to go there?"

"Yeah!" her face lit up.

"Okay then… to the park it is, do you want to leave your backpack here?" Nathan asked, seeing it on her back.

"Okay…" she said and dropped it, "Can we go now?"

"Sure," Nathan said and opened the door to go outside.

------------------------------------------------------

"Do you need me to push you?" Nathan asked, as Meredith climbed onto a swing.

"I can do it myself," she said proudly.

"Okay," Nathan said and sat down on the swing next to her. He wondered how long it would last before she got tired, and they had to find another activity to do. He watched her go back and forth, going higher each time, then it hit him… what if she was afraid of heights and started screaming? He didn't know anything about her, and yet Haley trusted him to do the right thing. "Aren't you going a little high?" he asked.

"No! Going high is the fun part, silly, I like going fast," she smiled.

"Okay, let me know when you get tired."

"I don't get tired," she said giggling, "I never get tired. I'm like the Energizer bunny… I keep going and going and going."

Nathan was afraid of that… with his luck they'd be out here on the swings until it was dark. It was easy enough, but at the same time… he really didn't want to spend his whole day watching a five-year-old swing. Then, she stopped.

"I thought you said you didn't get tired."

"I don't. I get bored, let's do something else."

"Okay, what do you like to do?"

"Can we bake Aunty Haley cookies? She taught me how."

"I know someone who can help you bake Aunty Haley some cookies… but I'm no good at it, my cookies always burn… or are hard… or don't taste very good."

"Oh… maybe you forgot to add the special ingredient."

"What's the special ingredient?"

"I can't tell you… silly."

"Okay, well, let's go see Karen… I'm sure she'd love to help you bake cookies." He picked her up and started walking to the café.

------------------------------------------------

"Hey Karen, you wouldn't happen to need an extra chef… would you?" Nathan asked, walking in, giving Meredith a piggy back ride.

"Why, who do you have in mind?" Karen asked, as he took a seat on a stool at the counter.

He put Meredith on the stool next to him, "Miss Meredith here wants some help baking Aunty Haley some cookies."

Karen looked around the café, it was a slow day, her helping a five year old bake some cookies wouldn't affect anyone, "Sure I can, Deb, you can handle it out here… right?" she asked her business partner.

Deb looked up from her magazine she was reading the corner with her coffee, "Yeah sure, oh, hi Nate, how have you been? I haven't seen you in a while. I heard you won your last game. Congrats."

"I've been good mom. And, yes we did win."

"All right," Karen said, "Meredith, come on, we're going to bake cookies, you like chocolate chip?"

Meredith smiled, "Yes!"

"Okay, good, come on, we can wash our hands and get started."

"Okay," Meredith said and hopped off the stool to wash her hands.

Nathan sat on his stool, figuring if it got back to Haley that he left… he might be in big trouble, besides the game was on T.V. in the café anyways. It was a win-win situation, at least in his eyes.

---------------------------------------------------

"Look! Cookies!" Meredith said, running out from the back when they were done, carrying the plate of cookies.

"Wow," Nathan said, trying to be as excited as the little girl was about the cookies. After all, they were just cookies. He looked at his watch, it was already five 'o' clock, "You want to go back and wait for Aunty Haley? We could watch some T.V… have a snack… what do you say?"

"Okay," she smiled, "bye Karen," she said waving as she left.

Nathan walked with the little girl back to the hotel room. She was so energetic and eternally happy… it was actually kind of scary.

"Okay… you want to watch some basketball?" Nathan asked when they got to Haley's hotel room, plopping down on the couch.

"Okay," she said, nodding, "But I don't know what that is."

"Come here, I'll teach you," Nathan said, opening his arms to let the girl sit on his lap.

Meredith walked over to him and sat down, "Who do you want to win? The ones in the white? Or the ones in the blue?"

"The ones in the white," he said, shaking his head.

"Do you like the cheerleaders?"

"What?"

"The cheerleaders. Aunty Taylor says you like cheerleaders."

"What else did Aunty Taylor tell you?"

"She says that you're easy to annoy a lot."

"Oh did she?"

"Yes she did."

"Anything else?"

"Uh-huh."

"Can you tell me?"

"Yup."

"Well, what is it."

"That Aunty Haley loves you and you love Aunty Haley, but you're both too stupid to do anything about it."

"Really," Nathan asked, smiling, knowing Haley still loved him.

"Yup. Don't tell Aunty Haley, she'll be mad that I saided something."

"Okay… our little secret," Meredith said as Haley walked through the door.

"Hey Nate, Meredith, how was your day with Nathan?" she asked, kicking off her shoes and throwing down her coat.


	12. You Live Here?

Leaving Town

Chapter 12- You Live Here?

"No, don't come in," Haley wailed, as she unlocked the door to her small townhouse. She had to leave Tree Hill to attend to a few things at home. Nathan had came with her, after much argument not to.

"No, I don't think so, I ride over an hour with a five-year-old singing '1000 Bottles of Beer On The Wall'… twice, cause she miscounted, to stand outside in the cold… you have to be kidding me."

"I told you not to come, traveling with a five-year-old is hard, that's why I told you not to come, plus, the place is a mess, I haven't been here in a week, but Taylor has, so it has to be a mess. I don't want you to see my house like this."

"Come on, you waltz into my apartment, when it's a complete mess, and I don't say anything."

"This is different, that was your mess, this isn't even my mess, it's Taylor, miss 'I'm just gonna crash on your couch for one night,' that was when we left Tree Hill from coach's funeral… and she's still crashed all over my living room. She dances on my countertops, and makes new drink concoctions on them, so the kitchen's a mess from her work experimenting. There's probably laundry all over the floor, hers, she never does laundry. The dining room is my mess of papers that need to be graded and have been graded, or are in the middle of being graded. There's no place clean to go, I'm telling you, you don't want to go in there."

"I do, I don't care if you're a slob, really, I don't, I'm just as messy most of the time."

"Fine," Haley said and pushed open the door to step on a pile of mail. Obviously it was out of Taylor's way to pick up the mail. She was always going in and out of the house, to the mall or to get Meredith, or out with some "friends". She couldn't be bothered to at one point in time when she walked into the house to bend down and pick up the mail, there had to be the whole week's worth of mail sitting on the floor, in front of where the mail slot was. Haley bent down to pick up the rather large pile of letters. "Told you it was a mess," Haley said walking past Taylor's living room to the kitchen, where she pulled herself up on the counter to look through the mail.

Meredith had already darted past them to her room, to say hello to all her stuffed animals, and dolls, and everything in her room. She was a funny little girl, and that's what everyone loved about her.

Haley flipped through the mail and Nathan watched her, she threw things to the bottom of the stack. They were all same sized envelopes, rather large, and white. That made him curious, what were those letters. She put the magazines down to her left, and Taylor's mail on her right. She occasionally opened a letter, or looked at a postcard, which would be put on the fridge with the rest of the post cards. She had gotten a lot of mail from her family recently, and from the family of her late brother's late wife. With the new custody decisions coming up, they all wanted in on the know, and some were even trying to come up with cases against her to get Meredith, even if Haley was the child's godmother, and it stated in her brother's will that the child go to her. She frowned at each letter from them.

"What's wrong," Nathan finally asked, after like the third letter. They didn't bother with e-mail, they knew she would delete it, and calling, well she wouldn't answer, or hang up on them. Mail, they figured, would be their best choice, she would have to read some of it.

"Nothing, just wishful thinking on my family's part, or Meredith's family. I swear, all of a sudden, everyone wants Meredith, now that my brother's dead. Sure, when he was alive, there really wasn't much anyone could say about it, he was her dad after all, but now, even her mother's family wants her. They've made no effort to contact me since my brother gave her to me, I really find this funny. I'm gonna go start a load of laundry, help yourself to whatever's in the kitchen, or the T.V., or heck, the dog in the backyard. Taylor and Meredith's dog, the big golden one, that Taylor actually feeds daily, and give water to."

"You have a dog?"

"Taylor and Meredith have a dog, and I told her that when she brought the thing home."

"What's its name?"

"Go ask Meredith, I never could guess what she said."

"Hey, one more question, what are the big white envelopes that you keep putting at the bottom?"

"Schools that want me."

"You didn't go to college!"

"No, high schools, to teach at, I'm an English teacher, and where I'm at, I don't like the pay, because they have too many teachers, so I'm looking for someplace else."

"Tree Hill needs teachers, those classes are really overpopulated, how many kids in your class?"

"About 20 or less."

"How would you like a class twice that size."

"I'm always up for a challenge."

"I'll put in a good word for you a Tree Hill."

"I need to start a load of laundry, I'll be right back," Haley said quickly, wanting to avoid that conversation, and left the room. Truth was, Tree Hill wanted her, they've been sending her stuff for months once she asked, but sadly, Nathan did work there, and there were rules about dating your coworker. Haley didn't like breaking rules.

While Haley was tackling "laundry" Nathan whipped out his cell to call Lucas, "Hey man."

"Nathan, where are you dude?"

"Virginia."

"Why are you in Virginia?"

"That's where Haley lives."

"You cannot be serious, one state north of North Carolina. All this time we thought she was in Maine or California or something."

"I know, it was a shock to me too, besides, wait, is Brooke there?"

"Dude, she's my wife, she's always around."

"Right, let me talk to her, going through her would be like a megaphone to Tree Hill, or at least you guys."

"Fine," Luke said, and Nathan heard him hand the phone over to Brooke.

"I have huge news, but if Haley knows I'm telling you this, it would be non-existent."

"Fine, tell everyone, don't let Haley know you told."

"Exactly. I think Haley's moving back to Tree Hill."

"OMG! Are you serious, Haley's moving back?" Brooke asked really excited.

"She's looking for a new job, she's a high school English teacher, and Tree Hill needs teachers, I brought it up, and she avoided the topic, I think she's coming home."

"That's great Nathan, really, you deserve this, but you do realize, if you mess up again, she's moving, and probably further away."

"Okay, I got to go, I think she might be coming, I'll talk to you later," Nathan said, and closed his phone and slipped it into his pocket. Thankfully it was only Meredith walking into the kitchen.

"You want to meet Sheldon?" she asked, looking up at him.

"Sure, who's Sheldon?"

"My turtle, she lives in my room."

"She?"

"Duh, of course Shelly's a girl, you're silly," she said, grabbing his hand to drag him up the steps to her room. You could tell that which door lead to her room just by looking down the hallway, without having to read her name on the door. It was pink, the rest of the doors were white. It was a big hint, and of course if you didn't get it, there was her name on the door in white painted wooden letters. The room even had a pink doorknob for goodness sake, you could tell that she liked pink.

"Is this your room," Nathan asked politely.

"Yup, ain't it great, it's all pink. Tí a Marí a did it. She wanted red, but I told her she's silly. Pink is way better, don't you think so," she asked, walking into "Pinkland".

Nathan nodded and "uh-huh" -ed, his mind was suddenly sent someplace else, back to sophomore Spanish class, tí a was Spanish for aunt, but why would she use that.

"This is Sheldon, or as I call her, Shelly," she pointed to her turtle, the only thing it seemed in the room that wasn't pink.

"Wow, she's nice," he said, looking around the rest of the room. There were a lot of pictures on the walls. "Who's this?" Nathan asked, pointing to one of the pictures.

"Tí a Marí a," she said simply, looking at it, "She was my nanny, as Aunty Haley put it. She spent the days with me before Aunty Taylor came to live here, and I started school."

"Oh," that made a lot of sense, "and these people," he asked, gesturing at the next picture.

"I never met them, at least I don't remember, but Aunty Haley says those are my uncles, my mommy's brothers. That's Uncle Danny, Uncle Mikey and Uncle Larry."

"Do you know your mommy's name?"

"Aunty Haley says it was Laura."

"Does your mommy have any sisters?"

"No, just three older brothers."

'Ouch!' Nathan thought, they would probably have killed Haley's brother if he hadn't of gone to war, knocking up their sister, then her dying when she had the kid. "Wow," he said, then started looking at the rest of the pictures, the rest were mostly of familiar people, Haley's family. Then there were a lot of Meredith on the wall, he assumed Haley's old boyfriend, whatshisname, took them. They weren't half bad though, he had to give the guy props for that.

"Let's go play with Doggie," Meredith said, dragging him back out of her room. She dragged him back down the steps and to the backyard where the dog was. Nathan expected a little dog, it was a houseful of girls, girly girls. A big dog, at least five feet tall, if he were to stand up on his hind legs, come running over to short, little Meredith and licked her face. The dog was huge, but the little girl tried as best she could to put her arms all around the dogs neck, but then settled for how far they could reach. He smiled at her attempt.

"His name is seriously Doggie?" Nathan asked.

"Yup… I named him."

"Wow," Nathan said, trying to sound excited like she was.

----------------------------------------------

Later that night, after Meredith had already gone to bed, Nathan and Haley sat at the counter in the kitchen, with warm cups of cocoa.

"I have a confession to make," Haley said quietly.

"Okay, what?" Nathan asked, curious. Haley got up and picked up a stack of mail and handed it to him.

"I don't need you to put in a good word for me at Tree Hill, they already want me, I filled out an application months ago, when I found out my job was at stake. I haven't gotten back to them. I kept reading the rules over and over, and I kept having this fight with myself about it. See, I figured I could move back there, I thought it could work, I read everything, including the list of staff, which you were on, which made me think back to the rules. I knew if I went back to Tree Hill, we would be together, its just the way it would be, we would see each other everyday, and it would be natural to go back to each other."

"I feel a but coming on, and I hope its not 'but I don't want to be with you' cause that would so seriously suck," Nathan said, hoping that, that, wasn't it.

"No, I want to be with you, that wasn't my dilemma, its that you work at Tree Hill."

"So?"

"You never read the rules?"

"Of course, I believe about half of them are about things I did while teaching there or when I went there. Like number 32. No faculty member can make any student for any reason run more than 100 laps around the premises. We were having a horrid streak, and I gave them 200 laps, and one snitched, so now I'm only allowed a hundred… and their changing that hundred to during a month's time," Nathan said chuckling.

"No, this rule is different, 'No faculty member shall date, see, have an affair with, or any other type of personal relationship other than platonic with any other faculty member during or after school hours.' It means we couldn't date, and seeing you everyday would probably drive me to that."

"Let's get married."

"What! Are you crazy?"

"No, I'm perfectly sane, right now, let's get married, Hales, we're meant to be, you know that, I know that, the whole world knows that," Nathan said, as Haley heard Taylor sneak in through the back, just getting in from work, or getting in to go to work.

"Yeah, but-" Nathan cut her off.

"No 'yeah buts,' lets just do it, we get married tonight, you quit your job tomorrow, move to Tree Hill this weekend, start working at Tree Hill on Monday and spend the rest of our lives together."

Haley saw Taylor walk to the couch and collapse on it, then looked at her watch, then to the steps that led upstairs. She knew Nathan was waiting for an answer, and she wanted to give him one, really she did, with all her heart, she wanted to jump up and scream yes, but that was the old Haley, the one who wasn't tied down to anything. She had Meredith now, and any rash decision could mean that she could loose her, or, then she thought, it might help her keep her, Meredith having a mother and a father figure, it might help. Then she thought about Taylor. She knew Taylor had no place else to go, and had given up practically everything to help Haley with Meredith, just so she could sleep on her couch, eat her food, and more, for nothing. She wasn't sure if Nathan would allow Taylor to just crash on the couch like that, or how Meredith would take to living with him. There was so much rushing through her head, and the look on Nathan's face steadily grew less and less excited as it was, the longer she took thinking. Haley thought about how her school would take to her quitting. Then to her students, they had all told her she was their favorite teacher, and for her to leave in the middle of the year, would be hard, and they would surely hate her, which she wasn't sure if she could handle. She also didn't think that the school would like her just quitting like that, sure it would be less trouble for them than firing her, and they could easily divide up her students to be put in the other classes, but she still wasn't sure. She also knew Nathan lived in apartment, and Meredith would be absolutely heartbroken if they couldn't keep Doggie. But then she thought of plusses, she would be with Nathan, all she had ever really wanted. She would be in Tree Hill, her home, where she knew she belonged. She absolutely loved Tree Hill, and knew Meredith would love it too, and Taylor probably wouldn't mind moving back there, she already knew her way around, and could easily find a job at some random bar, heck, she could move up from bar to club, and try working for Karen at TRIC. Karen would let her work there, with Taylor's résumé, which was pretty filled with different bars around the country, she knew how to make every drink and more known to man, the only difference was, she probably wouldn't be dancing on the bar, which Haley was perfectly okay with. There was also Tree Hill Elementary so close to the high school, it would be easy to go and get Meredith after work, and drop her off right before. There were also a lot more people in Tree Hill that cared about them than here.

Haley contemplated this in her head, and Nathan grew more and more worried, worried that she would say no, worried she would have five billion reasons why not to, and none to. Worried that she would tell him she didn't love him as much as he loved her. What he desperately wanted to know, though, was what was she thinking about, and why wasn't she saying it out loud. Nathan took a sip of his hot cocoa Haley had made, she always was a good cook, and it showed in everything she made.

The clock struck eleven, as he watched the second hand start to go around again. Nathan found it better to watch the clock than to look at Haley, her face robbed of emotion, and any sign of what she would say. He finally grew up the courage to ask again, this time more sincere, and real, only without a ring, which should make it better, spontaneous, "Hales, I fell in love with you the first time I ever laid eyes on you, and I made the stupid mistake of letting you slip away before. I don't want to do that again. I love you, I always have, and always will. I want to spend the rest of my life with you, so Haley, will you marry me, tonight, right now?" he asked, hoping it would influence her decision to say yes.

"Nathan…" she started with tears in her eyes, looking down, away from his line of vision "I… I… uh…"

------------------------TO BE CONTINUED---------------------

Gosh, I bet you guys are loving me right about now, I put you through a really long chapter of happiness and Naleyness, and just to end it like this. I do believe this is the longest chapter so far of this story, and I'm feeling really good about it. I love the emotion buildup, and Doggie, I just had to throw that in there, though, I thought having the dog chase Nathan around the tard was a bit much, so, yeah, I didn't do that, but I can rant about it now… go me.

A u s t y n


	13. Talking Is Good

Ah… yes… the answer to the most ingenious cliffhanger. I know, I know, I was oh so very mean, but I'm feeling a bit nice now, so we'll see.

A u s t y n

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Chapter 13- Talking is Good

"Nathan…" she started with tears in her eyes, looking down, away from his line of vision "I… I… uh… yes."

"What?" he asked, just to make sure he wasn't hearing things.

"Yes, you know that, it would always be a yes. Sort of. I think. It's just I have a life here, and I can't exactly pack this up in one night to move to Tree Hill. It would take longer than that. And there's so much we still need to talk about, and-" he interrupted her by placing a kiss on her lips.

"I understand, and I wasn't asking you to do it all in one night, even though that's all it took you to leave Tree Hill."

"Nathan, don't do that, back then it was only me, and I probably only had a five foot by five foot square I the apartment anyways, not a lot of room for stuff."

"Okay, fine, let's just do it."

"You mean, with no one there?"

"Well, we can elope, then have a real wedding later."

"That's not a bad idea, I mean Taylor isn't going to drag her butt off the couch anytime soon, so she can stay here with Meredith. Wow."

"What?" he asked, with a tinge of concern in his voice.

"Nothing, it's just, well, we're actually doing it, we're actually going to make this work. This is going to work right? I mean we haven't really talked about anything big, like my zoo of animals, Meredith loves them, I couldn't ask her to get rid of them, and I love them. And what about kids, I don't know your feelings on kids anymore. I know I want a family. Where are we going to live? I don't know if you thought about it, but we can't live in your tiny apartment. What about Taylor, would you let Taylor live with us? She's my sister, and she's a real great help with Meredith, watching her in the day, or picking her up and taking her to school, when I have to work, and we'll have the same work hours, so obviously neither of us will be able to get her. And… and-"

"Hales, calm down, I am confident its going to work. I'm okay with animals, even though I think your dog is a little big for someone small like you, I like it, and I wouldn't ask I give year old to give up her pets. I would love kids, and to be a good daddy. I would love to start a family with you. I have no physical attachment to my apartment whatsoever. We could get a house, a big house, or a small house, with a big yard, and everything. If Taylor wants to move to Tree Hill to live with us, that is fine by me. I have no objections to it. I'm glad she earns her keep somehow. Haley, you don't have anything to worry about."

Haley let out a small smile. She really was happy, and kind of shocked that he had actually gotten through everything she said, and said everything, like he meant it, because she knew he did. She was just overreacting.

"We're getting married today," she smiled, still, kind of, in a state of shock.


	14. Sorry

Okay... it took me forever to update... sorry... a bad case of busy schedule and writer's block. Okay... so I started making it a bit more realistic, and I happen to like it, soI hope you guys do to.

A u s t y n

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Chapter 14- Sorry

The little chapel was white, and it was just them and a priest there. Haley looked around, it looked dingy.

"Nathan, I can't do this, I'm sorry," she said, her eyes filling with tears.

"What's wrong?"

"It's just, well, I always imagined when we got married, it would be outside, in the late spring, with all of our friends and family there, and my dad to walk me down the aisle, and my sisters as my bride's maids along with Brooke and Peyton, and my brothers as some of your groom's men, and Lucas and Jake. Like everyone in Tree Hill there to witness it, and then go to TRIC for a reception. I would wear white, and you would be in black, because you look great in black. Meredith would be our little flower girl, and Doggy the ring bearer, and she could ride him. It would be so cute. I would have a bouquet of white roses, and you would have on in your jacket pocket. My mom would sit in the front row weeping. Everyone else would be going 'Finally' and we would have a place to go home to, and a honeymoon booked to someplace exotic, and foreign. I didn't want it like this, the middle of the night, some dingy chapel off the side of the road, just us. It's not very romantic, and last time we excluded everyone from our happiness, I don't want to do that again. I want us to shove cake in each other's faces like every cheesy couple does, and share our first dance in front of everyone to a slow song, our song, hear toasts made to us, I'm sorry Nathan, I just can't do this," Haley said, finally breaking down into a fit of tears, and running out of the place.

Nathan chased after her, and finally caught her, grabbing her arm and stopping her.

"We don't have to do this now, I want to give you what you want, that big white wedding, and the reception, and everyone there, and a big house, with a big yard to come home to, only to be shortly whisked away to our honeymoon, where it's just us, having the time of our lives. I want to see you in the white dress, with the white roses, being walked down the aisle by your father, and I want your parents to be there because I know how much they mean to you. Hales, if this isn't what you want, right now, here, we don't need to get married right now, we can wait, I just want to make you happy."

Haley smiled a bit, "Thanks, and when you marry me, I also want you to be adopting Meredith. She's like my daughter, I've raised her since she was, well, born. I want you to be willing to take on that father role. I know you can do it, but you need to know that you can do it. You also need to be willing to take in the biggest dog I have ever seen in my entire life that Meredith and Taylor fell in love with, and slowly, so did I. And Meredith's turtle, she loves that thing. We have fish too, I don't think you saw the fish, but maybe she showed you her hamster. He's pretty annoying in the middle of the night running in his wheel, but she doesn't mind him, and he tends to get out a lot. Loves the dog. You need to be ready to take in the zoo, and me as their ringleader. Heck, maybe Doggy can actually go for a walk for once. Meredith's always wanted to take Doggy on a walk, but Taylor and I aren't strong enough so that Doggy doesn't walk us, but you're a nice strong man, I bet you can."

"A zoo, huh? I think I can handle that. A big house, need something to fill it with," then he smiled, "You let a dog walk you?"

"He's big, you saw him."

Nathan started laughing, "You let a dog walk you."

"Why do you keep saying that?"

"Cause it's funny, the woman I want to marry, can't even walk her own dog."

"He's Taylor and Meredith's dog, not mine."

"The point is, you let a dog walk you."

She hit him, "Yeah, and you just got hit by a girl," she smiled at him.

"And you hit like a girl, that didn't even hurt."

"I'm supposed to his like a girl, I am a girl, aren't I, unless of course, you were about to go marry a guy, in which case you're gay, and I have to dump you, because, me being a strait girl, mean I like guys, guys who like girls."

"Okay, okay, let's just go someplace else, like… Hooters."

She hit him again, only really hard, he felt it that time, "Um, no, seriously."

"You hit me."

"You suggested we go to Hooters."

"Nothing's wrong with that."

"I'm not going to Hooters. You can go to Hooters, but I'm going back to the hotel room we rented."

"What's the catch?"

"You can look, but you can't touch, and I have your wallet, so you wouldn't get very far, however, a hotel room with me in it, should look very appealing right now."

"Good point, let's go."


	15. See You Later

So... I seriously had a bit of wrier's block with this, but I think I got over it and it ended up pretty good. Remember I thrive on reviews, and I know I don't have to tell yall, but review

A u s t y n

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Chapter 15- See You Later

All good things must come to an end, and sadly, as does their weekend. Reality calls, and we must answer the call of reality, for ignoring it could result in serious consequences.

"Okay, I will see you this weekend," Haley said, hugging and kissing Nathan good-bye. He had to return to Tree Hill for work, and she had work on Monday as well.

"I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too, call me when you get back."

"You never gave me your new number, since you changed it."

Haley picked up a pen off the table and wrote a series of numbers on his hand, then closed his hand into a fist, "Now you have my number."

"On my hand."

"Yea, so, guys like walking around with girl's numbers written on their hands."

"Good point."

"I know. Now you have to leave. I don't want you getting in trouble, and I still have essays to grade, and I'm sorry, but you can't help with that."

"Why not?"

"Because it's my job, and you need to leave."

"Okay, see you this weekend," Nathan said and walked out the door. Haley stood there and watched him leave until she couldn't see him anymore.

She closed the door and sat down at the table and pulled out a pile of papers and began reading when her phone rang. She smiled and picked it up off the table.

"I told you to call me when you got home."

"How'd you know it was me?"

"Caller I.D."

"I couldn't wait that long."

"Obviously, you know, you're keeping me from my papers."

"Teach you not to assign so much stuff."

"Funny."

"Seriously, if you don't like grading work, don't assign it."

"Yea, and then they wouldn't learn anything."

"Minor detail."

"Yea, so anything in specific you wanted?"

"Nothing really, I love you."

She smiled, "I love you, too."


	16. Oblivious To The World

Okay... Austyn went to a cheerleading competition in Ocean City fer like a week, so I didn't write, and well... I've been bad... we did go tho... we got honerable mention... go Spartans! woo-hoo! okay... I hope you enjoy... I thought I painted a pretty picture.

A u s t y n

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Chapter 16 - Oblivious to the World

Just because you are oblivious, does not mean it is not happening, That's just what happened in this tragic turn of events, a problem with serious consequences, nobody knew. No number of apologies could fix this. Irresponsibility does have it's consequences, and not just for you, but for people around you.

She knocked on his door, on the verge of tears, holding a sleeping little girl in her arms who was oblivious as to where she was or what was happening. He answered the door, mumbling something, "Do you have any idea what time it is-" and he saw who it was, crying, in the middle of the night, "Haley, what happened, come in, what are you doing here, don't you have work tomorrow? Why don't you go put Meredith upstairs and I'll make coffee and we can talk," he said calmly. She simply nodded and walked upstairs to the guest room. She knew the house pretty well, since they had gotten it together, over a month ago, and visited regularly. She walked back downstairs and into the kitchen.

"What happened?" he asked, handing her a cup of coffee.

She took it and drank some, "It's Taylor. She came home from work, drunk, and passed out, to the point she wouldn't wake up. I called an ambulance, and the paramedics were annoyed and saying not her again, I asked at the hospital, she has been in there so often for being drunk, had a police record a mile high of DWIs and DUIs. I had no clue. I let her watch Meredith, she was in charge. She could have been drinking or drunk and I would have never known. I have court cases about my custody of Meredith, I could lose her because of this. Nobody else will let her have her zoo, or would Taylor, when she gets out of rehab, let her take them, and they've actually grown on me," she was breaking down.

"Haley, calm down, take a drink, breathe. So, Taylor's an alcoholic and this could effect you keeping Meredith?"

"Yea," she said, taking a drink, "And I'm scared."

"Of?"

"Losing Meredith. She lost her mother, and her father, if she loses me and Taylor, it would be devastating, I can't let that happen, but if anyone finds out, they'll take me to court and I'll loose her. It wasn't supposed to be like this."

"What was it supposed to be?"

"Well," she said, calming down a little, "We were supposed to get married, you and I, and we were supposed to raise Meredith together, and have some of our own, but treat them just like Meredith, no one's special, and Meredith would have a stable family. That's all I ever wanted for her, is to have a stable family, one where no one leaves."

"Hales, why don't you stay here with me tonight, okay, and we will find out how bad this is with Taylor in the morning. You need sleep, Hales, you look tired."

"Thanks Nathan, really, I just- I, I can't believe Taylor. She's going to have to find a new job. I can't let her be a bar tender anymore. She should join like AA or something. I have to find her information on this. How, seriously, how did I let this go on for so long?"

"Hales, look at me, this is not your fault. You couldn't have done anything to stop it. This is Taylor's fault. If she's old enough to start drinking, she's old enough to know when to stop. You can't baby-sit her, her whole life. You're going to hurt yourself, Meredith, Taylor, and everyone else."

"You're right, you're right. Let's just go get some sleep. You have work tomorrow, I don't want you to be late, or tired at work," she smiled a little.


	17. Behind Closed Doors

Chapter 17- Behind Closed Doors

"Well, Miss James, I have seen your portfolio and resume before, many times actually, over the past couple years. We have been trying to get you to come in for years to see us. What finally changed your mind, if you don't mind me asking?" the principal at Tree Hill High School asked Haley. She was nervous, and Nathan didn't know she was there.

"Well, I thought that it was time for a change of pace, seeing as though my sister's alcohol problem was brought into the light just recently, and she lives with me and my niece, so I felt that a change of scenery might help her kick the habit, so to speak, if there weren't as many bars around for her to go to, it wouldn't be as tempting."

"Interesting, okay. And this niece of yours, your sister's daughter?"

"Meredith, no, she is my brother's daughter, she was entrusted to my care after her mother passed when she was born, and my brother went into the army, overseas, to make something of himself so his baby girl would be proud of him, and not to long ago, he was killed, making her legally mine."

"Does she affect your work habits?"

"Well, Meredith is a good kid. She goes to school. My sister, the one in rehab, usually picked her up and took her to school, and watched her while I was working, and entertained her, in exchange for free rent, and it was a chance to spend time with her niece. So, I would say no, she does not affect my work habits. I could easily find a more suitable sitter, it would not be a problem, and since she is going to school in the same district as my job, we have the same days off."

"And what makes you feel you are qualified to teach here. I mean, you came from a small orderly school."

"Well, I found it rather boring to come into a class of 20 perfectly behaved honor students and have them all do perfect work, and read something when you tell them to, and stay on task, there was no excitement. That was the whole school. I feel that I could easily deal with more kids, and more misbehaved children."

"You have a wonderful list of credentials, and a mile long list of contacts, no police record, but why Tree Hill, why not another messed up school in any town in this country?"

"Well, I went to Tree Hill High School. I graduated from here. I grew up here. I want to be in Tree Hill. This is my home. I want to show my niece where he father grew up, show her that there is always family there, even if they aren't blood related, because my family is here. I made the mistake once of leaving, and I was punished for it, but now I want to return home."

"I assume you have read the rules of the school, and the code of conduct," he asked, it's like they were generic questions, he wasn't really caring about the answers.

"Yes I did, I read them both, many times, cover to cover."

"And you understand them?"

"Yes, I do, no questions here."

"Great, when are you planning to start?"

"Fall?"

"Fine, see you then, Ms. James. I will contact you at the address given to inform you of new policies and your first day, room number and other various things."

"Thank you, and see you then," she said, got up, and left.

----------------------------------------

"Wake-up," Haley said, walking in and throwing the classified section of the newspaper on Taylor, "You're getting a job, a real job. I have called in a couple favors for jobs, and if none of these please you, you have the classified section," Haley was clearly angry. "First," she said, reading off of a piece of paper, "Karen could use an extra waitress/busboy on the weekends. Dan Scott wants you to sell cars at his dealership, weekdays, and weekends if you please, you can work out days and times with him. He contacted me, and I told him I would pass it along. Peyton could use a cashier on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and Friday nights. And, like I said, you have the classified section to find something, but you're getting a job if you plan on still living with Meredith and me. No more alcohol, no wine, beer, vodka, tequila, rum, nothing. If I catch you with alcohol in any form, you will be asked to leave, and not to come back. I don't want this kind of behavior around Meredith, and my lawyer told me that if you continue to, or engage in suck behavior again, then he will suggest that I apply for a restraining order against you for Meredith and me. By the way, you are to have all of your things packed before the end of next month, we are moving to Tree Hill, again. I have a court case to attend next week about your behavior, apparently it got out, and other family members were quick to jump on it to get Meredith. I need to go and defend myself, and try my best to keep Meredith in my custody."

"Haley, you wouldn't throw me out, I'm your sister. I'll change, I promise. I'll take one of those jobs, whichever one is easiest. Probably working for Dan Scott, he likes me. So call him up, and tell him I'll start whenever they let me out of here."

"Taylor, you know I would throw you out, I did it before, and I have nothing against doing it again. I'm not going to call Dan Scott, you are, and you are going to get out of here, join some twelve step program or something, and get better. I'm moving on with my life, and I think you should too. Stop going out with jerks, and find someone."

"What are you, mom? That's why I moved out."

"Well, do you really think anyone else in that in family would take you in after this? I think not, so just think a while and get your life together," Haley said and left.


End file.
